We've been working on this dive into Chicago's tree planting record for the better part of a year. Worth your time today!
Illinois Answers Project@illinoisanswers.bsky.social · last mo.Spot the difference between these two Chicago neighborhoods:
Alex Nitkin
@alexnitkin.bsky.social
Government Finance & Accountability reporter, @IllinoisAnswers/@BetterGov. Formerly of @thedailylinechi, @trdchicago & @DNAinfoChi. Tips: Anitkin@bettergov.org
Illinois Answers Project@illinoisanswers.bsky.social · last mo.
@maggiedough.bsky.social and I sat down with more than a dozen compulsive gamblers in recovery about let them speak at length about their own lives. It is at turns sad, frightening, infuriating, occasionally funny and painfully human 🧵 illinoisanswers.org/2026/06/24/w...
What Compulsive Gamblers Know
The hopes, dreams and tragedies of people who can't stop betting
illinoisanswers.org
New from me: an under-the-radar bill pending in Springfield would beef up rules designed to push wealthy Illinois suburbs to allow more affordable housing. Here's what HB5198 would do, and where it stands: (1/7)
Damn. Definitely never heard the head of a sister agency speak this way about a sitting mayor: (Context from Justin at @crainschicago.bsky.social www.chicagobusiness.com/politics-pol...)
New: Chicago officials have for years resisted calls to mandate proactive apartment safety inspections, even as renters keep dying in preventable fires. The City Council just passed an ordinance directing departments to study the idea in earnest. illinoisanswers.org/2026/03/18/p...
Proactive building inspections one step closer to reality in Chicago — but questions of funding and logistics remain
Chicago took a step toward beefing up its safety oversight of apartment buildings on Wednesday following years of criticism that the city’s patchwork of reactive building inspections has cost the […]
illinoisanswers.org
New from me: budget hawks have called on @chicagosmayor.bsky.social to cut ARPA-funded programs before considering any new taxes. But it's been hard to nail down the exact price tag of federal programs the mayor wants to keep. After six weeks of reporting, we found the number: about $33M.
Illinois Answers Project@illinoisanswers.bsky.social · 8mo agoWith a $1.2B deficit looming, Johnson defends pandemic-era programs he says helped cut crime. Much of City Council remains skeptical. From @alexnitkin.bsky.social: https://illinoisanswers.org/2025/12/02/chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-council-clash-over-city-budget/
Northwestern and Columbia being famous for journalism and bending over for Trump seems a little too on the nose these days
Matthew Eadie@mattheweadie.bsky.social · 8mo agoThis is the second largest payout from a private university to the Trump admin yet, second only to Columbia’s $200m
Must-read @skpineda.bsky.social on how a U-turn in federal housing policy is about to make it much harder for Chicago and other cities to fight homelessness:
Illinois Answers Project@illinoisanswers.bsky.social · 9mo agoThe Trump administration is dramatically cutting the money available to help pay for housing for people in need, including those with mental illness or disabilities. https://illinoisanswers.org/2025/11/18/new-federal-rules-could-put-formerly-unhoused-people-back-out-on-the-streets-across-illinois/
Homeowners in poor neighborhoods face steep property tax hikes while downtown office building owners pay less. From @adquig.bsky.social and @alexnitkin.bsky.social
Record property tax increases slam Chicago homeowners as downtown owners see cuts
Sinking Loop office values fuel spike in Chicago residential bills, especially on South, West sides, report shows.
chicagotribune.com
Dec. 2. Come by to learn more about our work, and how you can support it! illinoisanswers.org/event/how-jo...
How Journalism Connects Systems, Power and People
Join us for a conversation with Illinois Answers reporters as they share what they’ve uncovered investigating economic opportunity, government finance, public safety, childcare and the needs of the mo...
illinoisanswers.org
Important story from @meredithnewman.bsky.social on a symptom of the state's eroding public health infrastructure: mentally ill defendants spiraling in jail for months while they wait for psychiatric beds — sometimes with fatal consequences illinoisanswers.org/2025/11/11/t...
Too mentally ill for trial, she spent months in an Illinois jail as the state looked for a hospital bed. She died waiting.
Many defendants declared unfit for trial have often waited three months or longer to be transferred to a hospital – regularly exceeding the state’s deadline, an Illinois Answers Project investigation ...
illinoisanswers.org
So not only does the massive transit package passed last night fill the funding gap, it *boosts* ops funding by roughly the size of the gap, eliminates parking minimums within a half mile of rail stations, and gives the new regional transit board sweeping powers to do public development
Protect Bridgeport Bicyclists@stevevance.net · 9mo agoCrain’s is good about revenue sources and splits www.chicagobusiness.com/politics/tra... I believe the parts not discussed above (parking reform, land development authority, etc.) are largely retained from May
Tune into @wbez.org at 9 a.m. to hear me do my best to recap the whirlwind veto session that landed a $1.5 billion transit package on the governor's desk: www.wbez.org I'm not in Springfield, but I did get a full night of sleep last night!
WBEZ Chicago - WBEZ Chicago
wbez.org
Watch the live House committee debate, with Rep. Delgado answering questions about the bill: ilga.gov/House/AudioV... Read our story on the history and limitations of the RTA sales tax, which is being proposed for an increase: illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/28/l...
Official government website of the Illinois General Assembly
Welcome to the Official government website of the Illinois General Assembly
ilga.gov
Star:Line Chicago@starlinechicago.bsky.social · 9mo agoRevenue: • Gas sales taxes go to transit ops ($890m) • 15% of that goes downstate • Road fund interest goes to capital (split NITA/downstate) • RTA sales tax +.25% all six counties
A loophole lets counties spend millions in transit taxes not on transit...but on jails & courts Now, to save Chicago transit from cuts, lawmakers want to use those funds. The idea met a fierce backlash. 📝 @gracehauck.bsky.social & @alexnitkin.bsky.social illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/28/l...
A Little-Known Legal Loophole Has Scrambled State Efforts to Save Transit Agencies From Financial Disaster
Suburban counties last year spent $83M in RTA sales taxes on jails and courts; they'll fight to keep the money as the state scrapes for cash.
illinoisanswers.org
As transit funding hangs in the balance in veto session this week, @gracehauck.bsky.social and I have a pair of stories looking at the stakes for a part of the state that's gotten relatively little attention: the collar counties. t.co/oswatwJcdQ
https://illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/28/legal-loophole-scrambled-state-efforts-to-plug-transit-agencies-funding/
t.co
IL State Rep. Hoan Huynh says CBP agents surrounded his car and drew a gun on him on the Northwest Side of Chicago this morning
Johnson's budget address touts the city's effort to seize and resell properties from derelict landlord Suzie B. Wilson. ICYMI, @ctoner and @mina_bloom_ found the city has fallen far behind its goals here: illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/15/h...
Johnson Admin is proposing an unprecedented $1B surplus from TIF districts. About 52% of that will go to CPS and 24% will go to the City, per property tax allocations. City TIFs generated $1.36B in 2023.
.@chicagosmayor.bsky.social is proposing to use the revived business head tax (coined the Community Safety Surcharge) to bankroll a new Community Safety Fund. Lot of these programs were started, expanded and/or sustained through ARPA— looks like this is how the admin is looking to keep them going
New from me: Chicago's budget has approximately doubled in the past decade. So why can't the city just cut runaway spending instead of raising taxes? Turns out, lots of reasons: t.co/BS4bP7FzIG
https://illinoisanswers.org/2025/10/15/tightening-chicago-budget-faces-hurdles-amid-few-options-for-pain-free-cuts/
t.co
105/N. Feds rammed a car that crashed into another, then a foot chase. #chicago
Peter Nickeas@peternickeas.bsky.social · 10mo agoHere's video of the crash. Top of frame the white SUV makes contact with back of the red SUV which spins into a parked car and a foot chase follows. Crowd gathers after. 105/N. #chicago (via kwisstin on IG.)
The Johnson Administration had fought off ward-based restrictions on ADUs because of a 2023 federal ruling that aldermanic prerogative leads to segregation. Trump’s HUD freed the mayor to wheel & deal with alders. @danielkayhertz.bsky.social on this: illinoisanswers.org/2025/09/25/c...
Alex Nitkin@alexnitkin.bsky.social · 10mo agoCompromise ADU ordinance PASSES City Council in a 46-0 vote, ending a 7-year legislative battle over a modest affordable housing tool already common elsewhere in the country. Story TK
Compromise ADU ordinance PASSES City Council in a 46-0 vote, ending a 7-year legislative battle over a modest affordable housing tool already common elsewhere in the country. Story TK
Alex Nitkin@alexnitkin.bsky.social · 11mo agoInbox: City Council's most vocal supporter and most vocal critic of citywide legalization of ADUs ("granny flats") announce they've reached a compromise. Still waiting on a copy of the new ordinance language to understand what the "limitations and local review" are. cc @stevevance.net
Inbox: City Council's most vocal supporter and most vocal critic of citywide legalization of ADUs ("granny flats") announce they've reached a compromise. Still waiting on a copy of the new ordinance language to understand what the "limitations and local review" are. cc @stevevance.net
New: for the first time in memory, the City Council is going to hold an entire round of PRELIMINARY public budget hearings in September, before the mayor releases a proposal. Check the schedule:
The newly beefed-up City Council Office of Financial Analysis quietly dropped its mid-year budget report last week, including a 1st-ever report on city employee vacancies by department. chicago.gov/content/dam/... Should be of interest to anyone advocating cuts over new taxes!
chicago.gov
The infamous Evanston Brothel Law! dailynorthwestern.com/2021/10/18/c...
What is Evanston’s “Brothel Law”? Inside the city’s infamous housing law
How many roommates would you want to live with in your first apartment? To upperclassmen living off-campus who juggle rent, compatibility and square footage, that’s a common social and financial quest...
dailynorthwestern.com
Protect Bridgeport Bicyclists@stevevance.net · last yr.Evanston's zoning code is so specific that it distinguishes these family compositions: - one that's all people related by marriage, blood, or adoption ("Type A") - one that has unmarried parents with their children ("Type B")
In 2016, as Chicago mayor, Emanuel banned city employees from making most trips at the city’s expense to North Carolina, which banned trans people from using the bathroom that aligned with their gender. He also backed an ordinance blocking any Chicago business from imposing similar bans.
Dave Weigel@daveweigel.bsky.social · last yr.Rahm Emanuel criticized Dems for talking about "pronouns," but Megyn Kelly is the first interviewer I've seen drill down for his views. Boys + girls are "fundamentally, physically different." No "men claiming they're women" in women's prisons. "Can a man become a woman? No."
I’ll be talking about the ordinance to allow citywide construction of ADUs, which just advanced out of the City Council Zoning Committee in a 13-7 vote
Illinois Answers Project@illinoisanswers.bsky.social · last yr.Reporter @alexnitkin.bsky.social will be on @wbez.org’s Reset today at 12:20 p.m. to discuss ADUs in Chicago. Tune in live here: www.wbez.org And read his story here: illinoisanswers.org/2025/05/27/g...